Diagnostics
The Need for Device-Specific Training Before Handheld Ultrasound Use: Agreement and Repeatability of Simulated Aortic Aneurysm Diameter Measurements by Senior Sonography Students on a Familiar Conventional and an Unfamiliar Handheld System
By Mahasin G. Hassan, Dema Alenazi, Salsabil Aldosari and 4 others.
Abstract
Background
Ultrasound measurement of abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) diameter guides screening and surveillance, but whether students’ measurement competence on a conventional system transfers to an unfamiliar handheld device has rarely been assessed.
Methods
Twenty-seven senior sonography students made three anteroposterior outer-to-outer measurements of two water-filled balloons embedded in gelatin (reference diameters 3.53 and 5.88 cm, calculated from the circumference before embedding), first on the familiar cart-based conventional system and then, in a fixed, non-randomised order, on a handheld system with which they had no prior hands-on experience. The primary outcomes were bias against the calculated reference, with equivalence testing (±5%), and the paired between-system difference, with Bland–Altman analysis; repeatability was assessed with repeatability coefficients.